Yemen’s President Saleh appears on TV

President Saleh does the Phantom of the Opera in reverse, with everything bandaged but the face.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has appeared on TV for the first time since being badly burned in an attack on his palace last month.

Unable to move much with both hands wrapped in bandages President Saleh said he welcomed power-sharing, but stressed that it should be “within the framework of the constitution and in the framework of the law”.

Referring to his injuries sustained during the attack on his compound in Sanaa in June, Mr Saleh admitted that he had undergone “more than eight successful operations”.

President Saleh has been undergoing treatment in Saudi Arabia since the attack on 6th June that killed seven people.

Investigations have confirmed that a large quantity of the high explosive TNT had been placed inside the mosque where President Saleh attended Friday prayers.

President Saleh has ruled Yemen since 1978. In recent months civil unrest against his rule has seen hundreds of protesters killed.

Saleh keeps making promises to step down but then always backs out. For guys like him, the only way to get them to step down is to send them to the next life.

President Saleh is a friend of Western nations with his hard line on Islamic extremists. But with Yemen being a basket case whether Saleh rules or not it is better that the people have more of a say in their future.

The ‘sky falling on our head’ brigade who say that terrorists will fill the power vacuum in Yemen would have them retain a leader who is basically a terrorist anyway.